Rock avalanches on glaciers

With warming climate, rock avalanches in cold regions may increase in frequency owing to a number of potential factors, including rock-permafrost degradation, thinning and retreat of glaciers, increased precipitation, or enhanced strain accumulation. Though there has been an observed increase in rock avalances in heavily glaciated regions such as Alaska, the impacts of rock avalanches on glacier dynamics and mass balance is not well-studied.

As part of this project, you will use available satellite data such as ASTER, Landsat 1-8, Sentinel-1, and Sentinel-2 to examine the impact of rock avalanches on glaciers in a study area of your choice, including Alaska, Svalbard, Himalaya, etc.

The work includes: geometric processing of satellite images, DEM and terrain analysis, and analysis of glacier velocity fields and elevation changes.